Timing Belt Noise

[Jay]

I replaced my timing belts 10,000 miles ago with the NAPA belts.  Recently, I have been hearing a "squeaky shoe" kind of noise so I pulled the cover to investigate.  A short spray of silicone on the toothed side of the belts and the noise went away.  The tension seems to be correct, according the shop manual specs, and I have not noticed the noise previously.

My questions are could the belts be too tight?  If the belts are drying out a bit, would it be ok to use some belt dressing on them?

[Chrisj CMA]

belts are probably too tight.........everytime I tried to do it to "specs" by measuring the slack...they would measure right on the dot and make noise.  I basically let the springs select the tension, then I make minor tweeks to insure both are the same, if I felt the spring should have been tighter I tighten the looser one, and vise verse.......its not perfectly scientific, but 116,000 miles and she purrs like a kitten.

The one thing you have to do carefully is make sure the bolts holding the tensioners are the exact amount of loose so the tensioner can move from spring tension but not wobble and/or bind

[John Schmidt]

Just curious, how many miles were on the belts you replaced? Most riders don't bother replacing them much prior to 70-80,000 miles, many go to around 100k. Now, by spraying them with the silicone you have probably shortened their life. As for the squealing noise, it most likely is due to having the idlers too tight. It's the idlers that will squeal, not the belts. Loosen them just enough for the spring to move them, let the spring do the "adjusting" for you, then snug them down. But if you sprayed them with that lube, I'd consider new belts. Cheaper than having one go out on you.

[Ricky-D]

J.S. is "right on"!

It is usually in the package the belts come in and also on the web site.

"Do not spray the belts, it will cause deterioration and shorten the life of the belts"

No dressing necessary.

***

[Jay]

Thanks for the input.  I had around 72,000 miles on them when I replaced them.  The old ones looked fine, but I installed a 6 degree trigger wheel so replaced the belts.  This was 10,000 miles ago, and the noise just started.  I listened to the idlers with a stethoscope, the noise is definately coming from the belts.  Maybe I will readjust the idlers as you have suggested and see what happens.